For anyone collecting Dinky Toys from the 1950’s or earlier, the concept of colour dots is important for mint and boxed models. Many of the 1950’s Dinky Toys Boxes with Colour Dots became separated from their model and later mis-matched with the wrong colour dot.
Most of the early Dinky Toys models were issued in counter top display or retail boxes of 3 or more models. In the 1950’s individual boxes were introduced. For those models that had colour variations, the end flaps of the boxes would have a small round dot of colour to represent the model inside the box.
The 1950’s boxes would often feature two colour variations on the main faces of the box. Red and Blue, Pink and Black, Blue and Grey, and for some, the dot was split to represent the two-tone paint on the mode.
Dinky Toys Colour Dot Boxes
The following is not an exhaustive list, but merely indicative of some of the models and their colour variations.
Of note are these models which should have a matched colour dot:
100 Series Sports / Touring Cars had 4 variations of 2 Touring car and 2 Racing car colours.
157 Jaguar XK120 single colour model with Red & Green on the box faces. Colour dots matching Red, Green, White, and Yellow models.
157 Jaguar XK120 in two-tone colours of grey over yellow and red over turquiose.
It is also important to note that many models were issued over extended periods of time and that the box art varied from time to time. Some time around the mid-1960’s sketch art disappeared in favour of photographic imagery and in some cases scenic backgrounds for the box art.